The present invention relates to a stand for supporting an article represented by a percussion instrument such as a snare drum.
A typical stand for a snare drum includes a stand body and a stand basket for receiving the snare drum. The stand body is pivotally connected to a plurality of legs. For example, FIG. 5(B) shows a stand described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-184056. The stand includes legs 95, each having an upper end pivotally connected to a movable sleeve 94a, which is fitted to a lower pipe 92. Further, each leg 95 has a middle portion pivotally connected to one end of a stay 97. The other end of the stay 97 is connected to a fixed sleeve 94b, which is fixed to the lower end of the lower pipe 92. The movable sleeve 94a is vertically moved relative to the lower pipe 92 so as to spread or fold the legs 95.
In addition to the above publication, Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 5-45793 describes a stand provided with a basket located at the upper side of an upper pipe. An angle adjustment mechanism pivotally connects the upper end of the upper pipe to an arm holder shaft, which is located along the axis of the basket. FIG. 6 shows a snare drum stand 100 including legs 101, each of which is pivotally connected to a fixed sleeve 103. The fixed sleeve 103 is fixed to the upper end of the lower pipe 102. A portion of each leg 101 that is lower than the middle of the leg 101 is pivotally connected to one end of a stay 104. The other end of the stay 104 is pivotally connected to a movable sleeve 105, which is fitted to the lower pipe 102. The movable sleeve 105 is vertically moved relative to the lower pipe 102 to spread or fold the legs 101.
The snare drum stand may be used to support a snare drum having a long shell. In such a case, the snare drum stand must stably support the bottom portion of the snare drum at a low position so that the batter head of the snare drum is located at a height in which the drum can easily be played. However, in the structure described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-184056, the length of the lower pipe 92 is determined in accordance with the movable range d of the movable sleeve 94a. It is thus difficult to shorten the stand body 91 and further lower the support position of the snare drum. Further, in the structure described in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 5-45793, the basket and the upper pipe are not coaxial. Thus, although the support position of the snare drum can be lowered more than that of the structure shown in FIG. 5(B), the snare drum cannot be stably supported. In the structure shown in FIG. 6, the fulcrum about which each leg 101 pivots is located on the fixed sleeve 103, which is fixed to the upper end of the lower pipe 102. In this case, the fulcrum of each leg 101 is located at a high position near the basket. Thus, a large space must be provided under the basket to spread out the legs 101. As a result, when the legs 101 are spread out, the legs 101 are apt to interfere with parts of devices located around the periphery of the snare drum. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, when a drummer plays a bass drum 2 with a twin pedal 110, a connecting rod 112 connecting left and right pedals 111a and 111b is apt to interfere with the legs 101 at point P, which is indicated in FIGS. 6 and 7. This may hinder with the playing of the drums.